1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to vehicle mirror assemblies, and more particularly, to a pivoting detent joint with selective engagement so that positioning of the support arm relative to the carrier base is limited to specific orientations.
2) Description of Related Art
Rearview mirror assemblies for vehicles, particularly for commercial trucks, exist in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. These various mirror assemblies include many different arrangements for mounting the mirror assemblies on the vehicles. On large, commercial vehicles, such as tractor-trailers and buses, a mirror head carrier the mirror glass is mounted on a support arm that extends the mirror head out from the side of the vehicle, thereby providing a clear view of different areas around the vehicle. A typical mounting arrangement includes the support arm mounted to a carrier base, which is affixed to the vehicle body.
A pivot joint may be included between the support arm and carrier base assembly to make it possible to swivel the support arm to position the mirror head at a preferred viewing position, and to move the mirror head from an operational position into a storage position essentially folded alongside the vehicle.
A problem arises when mirrors are not properly positioned as a results of excessively adjustability between the support arms and carrier base. A typical detent system allows for the support arm to lock in position relative to the carrier base at a multitude of positions, with one being only slightly different from the next. Returning the support arm and mirror head to the proper viewing position can become difficult with such extensive adjustability. In most modern mirror assemblies, because the mirror glass itself can be adjusted in the mirror head, the ability to adjust the support arm is not needed to adjust viewing angles. Thus, moving the support arm from a storage position to an operation position can lead to misalignment from the preferred viewing angle by the vehicle driver when the detent arrangement allows excessive adjustment possibilities.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a pivoting detent joint for a mirror assembly with selective engagement so that positioning of the support arm relative to the carrier base is limited to only a few specific orientations.